I understand both are regional schools, but I don't have any specific preference for either location. Anyone have a sense of the placement comparison between USC in LA and Fordham in NYC? Since both would be at sticker, I'll ideally be shooting for the remnants of BigLaw to pay off the debt.

A second question: I know it's difficult to transfer in general, but would it be more likely to transfer from USC (simply because it's a few spots higher in the rankings) or are the same top 5% at USC transferring to the same schools as the top 5% at Fordham?

also, although I genuinely hope that you do extremely well as a 1L, it's silly to base your decision - no matter how slightly - on your transfer options. you have a 95% chance of not making it into the top 5% at either school, so just figure out which school you would rather get a degree from. that said, the top fordham students transfer into nyu and columbia. again, I don't know about USC.